Re: CULT: Yellowing leaves/ants

Tammy King wrote:
>
> Hi all~
>
> Since I'm a newbie to the list, I hope I'm in the right category here, and
> hope you don't mind me asking a couple of quick questions.
Tammy,
Welcome to the Iris-L, *AND* keep asking questions, they are the life blood of
the list!!!
> First, I was just out, cleaning up a bit and noticed that the leaves on most
> of my iris are turning yellow. It's starting at the tips, and starting to
> travel down towards the base. Could this be due to all the excess rain we've
> had? If not, any ideas of what it may be? (I'm terrified of losing any of my
> iris!)
The yellowing you are seeing is probably root rot. Don't panic here. It is
because of the rain. The very tips of the roots are rotting because of the
excess water. Nothing to do about it. As soon as the weather dries up a
little, everything will be fine.
If this is a recurring problem you might want to consider more raised beds,
although even in my 12" high beds I am getting some yellowing this year.
> Second, I also noticed ANTS! Tons and tons of ants. There aren't any aphids
> anywhere to be seen, but lots of ants. I even found them inside the leave
> where the stalk comes out. (I know I'm not using the right terminology, but
> I'll get the hang of it, given time). Will the ants hurt my plants? Should I
> blast them with something? I don't like bugs on my plants...nope, not a bug
> person, especially if they could hurt my babies.
>
Well I'd bet there are aphids around somewhere, and if there are not, there
will be soon with all the ants doing their thing.
Ant traps for the ants and safers soap for whatever bugs there are, would be
my recommendation. I have aphids and white fly of all things. So I am about to
decorate my garden with pretty yellow sticky traps.....
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
John Jones, jijones@ix.netcom.com
Fremont, California, USA, Earth, USDA zone 8/9 (coastal, bay)
Max high 95F/35C, Min Low 28F/-2C average 10 days each
Heavy clay base for my raised beds.
There are currently 83 Iris pictures on my Website. Visit me at:
http://members.home.net/jijones